Despite running against Jack Layton in the last two federal elections, former Liberal candidate Andrew Lang says he was asked to step aside for a “star candidate” in the upcoming Toronto-Danforth by-election — but when that candidate didn’t materialize, it was too late to turn back.

“There was one key factor” in his decision not to seek the riding nomination a third time, Lang told iPolitics. “I’d had a couple of people talk to me saying they knew of a ‘star candidate’ that was interested in running… I was kind of in the way… so I got out of the way,” he said.

Gerard Kennedy, a former Liberal leadership contender who lost his Toronto seat to current NDP leadership candidate Peggy Nash in the last federal election, was one name mentioned as a possible nominee.

Lang said having someone with Kennedy’s name recognition would have been a “slam dunk” for the Liberals.

“If you went to 20 doors and said, ‘Do you know who Gerard Kennedy is?’ You’re going to get 10 at least,” he said.

According to the executive director of the Liberal Party of Canada in Ontario, however, there never was a “star candidate” waiting in the wings.

He spent most of the January Liberal Convention talking about the riding with the leader’s office, and said he told them he “didn’t get out of the way for nothing.”

Lang’s Twitter profile — last updated Jan. 12 — still describes him as “the past and future Liberal candidate for Toronto-Danforth.” He says he still has lawn signs from the last election stored in his shed.

“It was a difficult decision because I’ve been the candidate for five years, basically,” he explained. “The difficult thing is, once I made an announcement that I wasn’t going to be running … I didn’t want to be a flip-flopper.”

But at the end of the day the Liberals have a great candidate in Grant Gordon, Lang said, and he is personally prepared to do anything he can to help the marketing firm president win back what many still consider a Liberal riding.

And after the distraction of having a party leader for their representative, Lang added, the riding is ready for someone whose primary interest is the constituency. “The one thing that Jack wasn’t doing for the riding is being a good local representative,” he said.